Brett Ratner In Talks With Dwayne Johnson For MGM’s ‘Hercules’

Finally, The Rock has come back to barbaric battle! According to Variety (via Collider), Dwayne Johnson is currently in talks to star as the title character of ‘Rush Hour’ director Brett Ratner’s adaptation of Hercules for MGM Pictures.

Ratner has been circling this project since 2010. The film is an adaptation of Steve Moore’s graphic novel ‘Hercules: The Thracian Wars’ with the script being written by Ryan Condal of the upcoming ‘Paradise Lost’.

‘The Thracian Wars’ takes a different approach to the character of Hercules all together, especially if you’re only familiar with the 1997 Disney picture. The graphic novel portrays the demigod as a mercenary who turns his back on the gods after he loses his family. After leaving Olympus, he joins a band of bloodthirsty warriors who are hired by the King of Thrace to train his men to become warriors as well.

The tale sounds like a gritty, epic one and judging by Ratner’s past films such as ‘Tower Heist’, ‘Money Talks’, and ‘New York, I Love You’, ‘Hercules’ doesn’t seem like the usual type of film that comes out of the director’s wheelhouse. However, don’t forget about ‘X-men: The Last Stand’. I know that you’ve all tried to block that one out of your minds, but it shows that Ratner can get a little dark when he has to.

As for the most electrifying man in entertainment today, this should be a walk in the park. The Rock is a perfect pick to play this warrior demigod version of Hercules. He’s no stranger to being the badass. I picture the actor channeling The Scorpion King a bit mixed with The Punisher once he finally gets into Herc mode.

No timetable has been set for shooting yet, but considering the parties involved, it should be high profile. The Rock has a whole slew of movies coming up including ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’, ‘Snitch’, Michael Bay’s ‘Pain and Gain’ with Mark Wahlberg, and then another installment of the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, so we’ll be seeing quite a bit of The People’s Champion in the next few years.

Most importantly, however, The Rock will be returning to the company that launched his entire career. On April 1st The Great One steps back into the squared circle to put boots to asses as he faces off with John Cena one on one at WWE’s Wrestlemania 28 from his hometown of Miami, Florida.

And if you can smell what I’m cookin’, I managed to fit a good amount of The Rock’s famous catchphrases and nicknames in this article. Can you find them all… Jabroni!?

Ben Silverio

Ben F. Silverio received a degree from Drexel University in the Screenwriting and Playwriting Program with a minor in Television Production. While at Drexel, Ben co-founded and co-hosted a film review show called The Pretentious Film Majors, which has evolved into a multi-format form of entertainment including blogs, podcasts on iTunes, articles in the school paper, and a potential tv show. Now armed with an extremely expensive piece of paper, Ben can begin climbing the treacherous ladder of the entertainment industry, which he hopes to do while streaming WWE wrestling matches, reading Marvel comics, and blogging about the excessive amount of movies and tv shows that he watches, all on the iPhone that is permanently attached to his hand.